The Bouzonvillois Trois Frontières community of communes has just launched a scholarship for future doctors who would agree to settle in the area. 4,800 euros per year are provided from the fourth year of study.
“What matters is the living environment and the well-being of our population”justifies Armel Chabane, president of the Bouzonvillois Trois Frontières community of communes, guest of France Bleu Lorraine, Tuesday October 1. The urban community announces the establishment ofa scholarship of 4,800 euros per year for medical students who would agree to settle there after their studies. “We face an immense challenge: we are a rural area and we lack doctors. We are modestly trying to act to attract more.”
The mayor of Bouzonville points two major issues. “We are classified by the Regional Health Agency as a priority intervention zone. There is a scissors effect for our health professionals who are in extremely advanced careers”he explains. “And then we also need specialists. If we could have between five and ten professionals combined, that would be immense happiness for us.”
“They must not forget where they come from”
Messages have already been sent to several universities and student associations. “We’re not going to be choosy,” assure Armel Chabane. “We hope to be able to reach many students, but we are also counting on the locals, those who come from us and who have gone to study in Nancy or Strasbourg. They must not forget where they come from If they can do us a little service, it would be important for our attractiveness and the well-being of our residents.”
The grant of 4,800 euros per year is accessible from the fourth to the tenth year of medical studies. In exchange, the young doctors agree to stay at least five years in Bouzonvillois, under penalty of having to repay the aidand five additional years by simple moral contract. Two scholarships are open for the year 2024, a cost of nearly 10,000 euros for the urban community. “I’m not saying there are no limits”said the president, “but it’s a real priority.”
“We made this double bet,” continue Armel Chabane. “The first five years are owed by the student to the community of communes, and the five years which follow can be those of a moral pact”, he explains, while believing in “an attachment to the territory, a kind of loyalty. When society gives, we hope that those who have benefited from it return it with dignity to our territory.”
“The responsiveness of the State is not there”
For three years, it has been the Bouzonvillois Trois Frontières community of communes who took over health skills. “We started by coordinating all health professionals in the region, by creating three associations of general practitioners and professionals in general”details the mayor of Bouzonville. “We have also started to set up multi-professional health centers, in connection with the municipalities of Waldweistroff, Freistroff and Bouzonville. They have to be filled, so we hope to attract them with this grant.”
And the chosen one is well aware of having to compensate for a lack of the State. “We have been talking about health at the state level for fifteen, twenty, thirty years, about the lack of doctors, and the responsiveness is not there”he regrets. “How many laws have been made over so many years? How many discussions have been carried out by successive governments? On the ground, our fellow citizens see nothing coming. People very often question me on this question of health. I Don’t see me not answering it, it’s our job.”
